A foot discovered on a Montreal street this morning turned out to be made of plastic and not human remains as first reported by police.

A foot discovered on a Montreal street this morning turned out to be made of rubber and not human remains as first reported by police.

“Right around 20 minutes to eight this morning a passerby that was walking on the sidewalk found a foot in the street near the sidewalk,” a police spokesperson said earlier.

Investigators were quickly called to the scene to determine if there was any connection between the body part and Jun Lin, the alleged victim of Luka Rocco Magnotta, a self-described porn star who was arrested Monday in Berlin, Germany.

After the foot was discovered to be made from rubber, Montreal police Commander Ian Lefreniere said: “Unfortunately when something like this happens it wakes up the whackos.”

Notre-Dame-de-Grace is the nearby neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges, where Magnotta is alleged to have committed the terrible crime.

Police said they were duped by something that appeared real. Montreal police spokesman Yannick Ouimet said it was so life-like that homicide detectives were called to the scene.

He said the object resembled something from a Halloween store.

“Police officers on the scene thought it was a foot, so I guess the look was good,” Ouimet said in an interview.

“Obviously, not a good joke to make at this time of year.”

The fake foot was found a day after a human foot and hand were received in the mail by two Vancouver schools.

Questions about the Vancouver body parts are now being handled by Montreal police. The parts from a still-unidentified victim were being transported back to Montreal on Wednesday as part of the investigation, police said.

Police were trying to determine whether Magnotta had any personal connection to Vancouver.

“Our suspect travelled extensively,” Lafreniere said.

“We know he’s travelled to the American West Coast. (We’re now investigating), has he been to the Canadian West Coast?”

As for the rubber limb found in Montreal, Lafreniere said there had been all sorts of rumours in recent days including some fuelled on the Internet by “fans” of Magnotta.